Go back 10 years and search results on Google were vastly different to what they are today. Gone are the days of page after page of bland text; instead searchers are now bombarded with an assortment of results - from news to maps, images and videos. Google refers to this as "universal search" as it combines their separate search tools to provide improved results for searches. However, universal search is just the tip of the iceberg with regards to maximising your brand’s exposure within the search results. Whilst not all options may be relevant to your brand, there are many which are easy to implement and allow you to increase visibility and traffic (whilst helping to bury your competitors further down the page). Read the rest of this entry...

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This week an Italian court surprisingly convicted three Google executives over the uploading of a video in which an autistic teenager was bullied. Despite removing it within a matter of hours after being notified by the Italian police, David Drummond, Peter Fleischer and George Reyes were all found to be guilty of violating Italian privacy laws. This is not the first time the Google giant has had problems with privacy laws. Just last week Google's new social networking site Buzz came under fire from The Electronic Privacy Information Centre who lodged a complaint with the US Federal Trade Commission claiming Google breaks consumer protection law. It will be interesting to watch how that develops. However, this latest development threatens to set a dangerous precedent in Italy in which sites can be held accountable for what's hosted on their servers. This could have major ramifications for sites which rely on user-generated content such as social networking sites. Read the...

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This week saw myself and Stu Bowker presenting on behalf of Propellernet at the MDHub 100 SEO & Google tools seminar, at the Sussex County Cricket ground. Our presentation gave a basic overview of SEO, exploring some link building tactics and the role good online PR can play. We also touched upon the power of conversion optimisation and detailed lots of free tools available to get you started. One of the key themes that came out of the session was that Google wants to provide the most relevant search results to users, offering the best user experience possible, encouraging searchers to come back time and time again. So how does Google decide who gets the top spot and ensure results stay relevant...? Well Google's search algorithm looks at a host of factors, but particularly important ones include good and relevant on page content mentioning the keywords you are targeting, as well as relevant and authoritative external links to that content. Read the rest of this entry...

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I’ve been musing for a while now over the irreversible chain reaction commercial dynamics behind search engines using media hyperlinks to determine authority and order search results.  Search engines, Media owners and brands all have their part to play in this merry dance, but ultimately it is media owners and backward thinking SEO approaches will be left without a chair when the music stops. Google maintains a map of all internet links and uses it to determine webpage authority.  I explore the reasons why this is flawed and how it will have to change in my recent econsultancy blog post: “buying or selling links? Look at the trouble you're causing.” ...Have a read and why not post your thoughts here or on...

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